Death and Rebirth
by Cat face
Summary: Since he met her a lot of things had happened but very little had actually changed. Yet he was sure of one thing, something had changed in his heart, just a bit. And that was enough for now. Part Two: Rebirth now up
1. Death

Death and Rebirth

Death:

The church was cold, colder than usual after a Christmas sermon. The candles had been extinguished and the stained glass windows were lined with frost. Every breath he took sent small puffs of steam floating into the air, dissipating after only a few seconds in the icy air. The church was cold, but no colder than the air outside.

            There was no reason for him to be here, he wasn't Christian nor did he believe in god. If he had asked himself why he was here he wouldn't have been able to answer. Maybe, it seemed almost appropriate. 

            "What can I do for you my son?" Willis was mildly startled at the priests approach. There was no reason for it of course; the priest had every right to be here, more in fact, than him. 

            "I was just…" There was that question, what could he possibly do for him? 

            "Is there something on your mind?" The priest asked, taking a seat on the end of the first row before the altar. 

            "Yes," Willis replied simply, rubbing his hands together; trying, in vain, to retain any heat which existed

            "Would you like to talk to me about it?" 

            The question caught Willis off guard; he hadn't really had anything on his mind. 

            "Yes," He answered out of obligation

            "Then come into my office, its warmer there."

             Willis obediently followed the priest into a small, cramped office. The priest hadn't lied; the office was a great deal warmer than the church. On the desk piles of paper tottered and threatened to fall, several empty coffee cups littered the room and in one corner a small, ripping vinyl couch huddled. Without invitation Willis sat on the couch and watched the priest as he collected various bric-a-brac and tossed them in a nearby box.

            Once he was satisfied with the room around his desk he sat down behind it and stared at Willis

            "Please," He offered gesturing with his hand, "begin." 

            Without thought or care words began tumbling from Willis' mouth

            "I'm alone. Not alone as in, I have no partner, alone as in there is nobody in my life." He stopped, thinking, then continued, "I was an only child, my parents are both dead, and as far as my knowledge goes they, too, were only children. I have no pets, my landlord doesn't allow them, and my few friends would not want me imposing in their lives. For as long as I can remember, I have been alone. We lived in the country, the other children were stupid and could not relate; I didn't bother to socialise. All my life the only thing that mattered, even slightly, was my computer and now…" He trailed off nodding his head slightly in satisfaction. He had said it.

            "Well, my son, you must realise you are never truly alone. As long as there is faith the lord will be by your side." The priest's eyes bore into his, but Willis was too numb to look away

            "And if there isn't?" 

            The priest was silent but his facial features didn't change. His small watery eyes never wavered from Willis' face. Willis couldn't help but notice how old the priest looked. The skin of his face was terribly wrinkled, his hands were thin and shaking slightly and his skin was blotched with purple dots and strange markings. 

            Before the priest could speak again Willis stood up and let himself out. The cold hit him before anything else, stung his face and fingers. He shivered and began to exit the church. The light outside the doors looked feeble, like the priest, and the wind blew old discarded newspapers and numerous fragments of litter. 

            There was nowhere else to go now, nowhere he could think of at least. The idea of leaving the country played across his mind, but what did another country hold for him? More loneliness, more despair, more aimless wandering of nameless streets in unknown cities. Nothing would change; nothing he took notice of anyway. 

            Out of habit he headed towards his apartment. The thought made him frown; his apartment was about as homely as a bus stop, and just as boring. Then again, since the incident nothing had been exciting. Wandering the city streets seemed like the only logical thing to do since all logic had been lost. The world was recuperating, adapting, he wasn't.

            As he reached the entrance of the church another man, oriental looking with skin as pale as a china doll and hair blue like the sea, approached. He was the strangest person Willis had seen all day, and a lot of strange people roamed the streets nowadays. He stopped to let the man through, but he only stared at Willis blankly.

            Before Willis could move to leave he began to speak in a thick Asian accent

            "May I ask the time?" He looked like he was struggling with the words, Willis' frown deepened

            A quick glance at his wrist watch told him the answer to the blue haired man's question, but he didn't answer straight away. For long moments the two started at each other as if they were the only two people on the earth

            "Five Thirty," Willis answered at length, blinking and breaking eye contact

            "Thank you," The man said, but he still neither moved nor looked away. After a moment he continued speaking "My name is Ichijouji Ken, nice to meet you." He held out his hand and, as a reaction, Willis accepted it; his hands were warm.

            "What is your name?" 

            "Willis," 

            Ken nodded and released Willis' hand with a smile. Without another world he turned and began walking down the block. Willis blinked owlishly at his disappearing back, his mind blissfully blank of questions as if what had just occurred had been read off a script. 

            Taking one last looks at Ken's back Willis turned and began wandering down the street in the opposite direction. The part of town he was in was familiar, familiar enough to unearth memories he would rather have kept buried. He stopped across the street from St. Francis' boys collage, and stared at the large, stark white complex. Against the backdrop of shining city buildings and clouds too black to be real the school looked almost innocent. There were no children there, Willis wasn't sure why, its emptiness and eerie cleanliness gave it a ghastly feel

            He had worked there, once upon a time, as a network administrator. The staff had been rude and looked down their noses at him; the children had been close to intolerable. But it had provided money, a lot more money than he knew what to do with. Maybe going to another country wasn't such a bad idea, he had enough saved. 

            He shook the thoughts out of his head and continued down the street. He wasn't too far from his apartment but he wasn't too far from the Rat and Parrot either, maybe getting blind drunk would cure his boredom. Scoffing slightly and muttering to himself he shook his head. Those kinds of bars weren't often open on Christmas and as much as the thought of alcohol entertained him he didn't like the taste. 

            As the sun began to set behind the sea of black clouds the rain began. The resemblance the sky held to a gaping flesh wound was astounding, Willis had to stop and stare. The sun behind the clouds had turned a blood red, staining everything around it the same colour. As the rain increased, not falling but collapsing at his feet, he felt smothered and dirty.

            Wiping the water out of his eyes he gave in and headed back to his apartment. A block away from his apartment there was an occult shop, he had never been in there personally but because of it a lot of weird looking teenagers and pale faced people were usually seen. On several occasions they had shouted insults at him, he knew nearly all of their regulars by face. 

            On this particular day, however, a girl, maybe a few years younger than him, sat on a highly stylised bench in the rain. She wore no makeup, less than sufficient jewellery for one of her kind; if she hadn't been dressed completely in black (including the black ribbon that held her long blond hair back in a thick braid) he would have dismissed her as fairly normal. 

            However, something about her caught his attention. The way the red from the sun set reflected off her pale face giving her lips a rich red hue. The way her hair fell wet and limp about her face, the way her eyes searched the streets for something unknown. He stopped a few feet away from her and stared. She didn't seem to notice. 

            After a moment an overdressed woman with too much black makeup and skin that clung to her bones like death came out of the shop and shooed the girl away. Once the girl took notice of the thin woman she politely stood up and nodded to the woman. The shopkeeper, Willis supposed, grabbed the seat and dragged it inside. It was then the girl noticed him.

            At first she met his stare equally, her eyes blank and glazed. After a moment, however, the glaze disappeared and a thick blush covered her cheeks. She smiled politely and brushed past him, her eyes downcast and her face ruddy. Willis let his eyes follow her, his head turned, his body turned. He would have followed her if it didn't disregard all his morals. Instead he watched her until she was indistinguishable amongst the crowd.

            He had seen that look before, the look in her eyes as she searched the faceless crowds for something discernible, someone to relate. He could relate, how often had that look dominated his features? A dark shadow from inside the occult shop caught his attention. The anorexic woman was standing in the doorway scowling at him. He could hear her insult coming before she said it.

            "You're driving away business, vamoose." She waved her bony fingers at him and he frowned at them. She suited her job well, if she had climbed into a coffin right then and there he wouldn't have been the slightest bit surprised.

            He managed to attain one last scowl from the woman before he continued. It wasn't until he walked away from the store's door did he realise just how putrid it smelt. Shaking the smell out of his head he continued through the rain back to his apartment. 

            A loud distasteful brand of music emanated from his apartment when he arrived. Takeru was back, that was odd. His keys and hands were wet and it took him several tries to unlock the door. Takeru was paranoid about people coming in when he was there and trying to kill him. Willis thought he was crazy. The problem could be easily solved by turning his music down and having a little faith in society. Then again, maybe Takeru wasn't that far off the edge. 

            When he entered Takeru was sitting at his desk tapping away at the keyboard of his lap top. He sang along to the music but thankfully his voice was drowned out by the heavy bass. Willis made a beeline for the stereo, which he turned off completely. Takeru spun around, surprise etched in his features. 

            "Oh, it's you." He said, sighing gratefully. He was still wearing a suit; that added more suspicion as to why he was already back.

            "Don't sound so excited." Willis replied, peeling his jacket off his soaking frame, "When did you get back?"

            "About three hours ago, where have you been?" Takeru replied, turning back to his laptop. Willis pondered the question for a moment before asking

            "What happened to your brother?" 

            Takeru scoffed and his typing ceased

            "You actually think I expected him to come?" He gave a shout of forced, humourless laughter, "Don't be stupid."

            Willis knew Takeru had been greatly anticipating his brother's visit. He wouldn't be wearing a suit otherwise. When they were young his parents had divorced and his mother had brought him to live in America, while his brother stayed in Japan with their father. They were practically strangers, but since Takeru's mother had practically disowned him once she remarried, his family in Japan were the only he had left. 

            He was slightly better off than Willis. 

            "Want to hear my latest poem?" Takeru asked, tapping the keyboard a few more times before turning to Willis.  Willis was caught off guard by the question, he knew Takeru had a passion for writing but he hadn't written poetry since he had first moved in. 

            "Okay…" Willis replied tentatively

            Takeru cleared his throat before starting

            "Never again be rid of these thoughts which plague my mind,

To never again feel the consumption of sleep rest on my head,

I was so young and naive

Cast down a plague of thoughts; steal the gift of dreams,

Soon I will sleep forever, 

My dreams are my reality, my reality a haze of dreams

Repetitive and forgotten. This pain will never die,

Not until by sleep I am called upon eternally.

I offer to the ignorant a tomb of knowledge, forgotten and gone,

I share the mind of an ancient in the body of a child,

Cast down the plague of relentless thought, sent to steal the gift of dreams

And soon I will sleep forever. 

Cast down a plague upon us, a plague of thoughts, sent from heaven to steal the gift of living.

Soon we must sleep, a slumber slept on deaths bed, with no more than a sigh to all that is left behind."

            Willis stared. He had never really understood or appreciated poetry, this was no exception. From what he could gather Takeru wasn't feeling alright. This was an exact replica of what it had been like when Takeru had first moved in after his mother kicked him out. Back then Willis had accepted his depression and heavy drinking silently; if this was to be a repeat of that he didn't know how long he could stay silent for.

            "Are you feeling okay?"

            Takeru laughed, this time it was genuinely filled with humour. 

            "Don't worry Willis; I'm not depressed just because my brother didn't turn up at the airport after I had driven all that way. Though, respectfully, I should be very pissed off. Afterwards I went to get drunk but I saw this girl sitting outside the occult shop down the street, she looked so consumed by thought, so lost. She inspired me."

            Willis nodded, remembering the girl with vivid accuracy. Takeru shut the lid of his laptop with care, then asked again

            "Where have you been all day?" 

            Willis blinked at the question, the apartment was cold and the wetness of his shirt was seeping into his bones. He would have appreciated having a shower, but Takeru's eyes were serious. He had often expressed his concern for Willis' apparent loneliness, he assumed everyone in that position had a right to be depressed and always drunk. Willis didn't understand his point of view, he had been alone for as long as he remembered and he had never been depressed to the point of heavy drinking. 

            "Walking," He replied monotonously, "I'm taking a shower, I'm soaked."

            Takeru didn't reply, he only stared, concerned, at Willis' retreating back. 

            The hot water had been used up at some point during the day and his shower wasn't quite as satisfying as he had hoped. If he had a cold the next day he wouldn't be much surprised. 

            Once he had put some clothes on and made himself coffee hot and strong enough to kill a horse he sat down on the couch and listened as Takeru tapped away at his keyboard. His apartment was more boring than he remembered. 

            "Oh Willis," Takeru started at length, not bothering to stop typing while he talked, "Those people from that place called for you." 

            Willis took a sip from his coffee before replying

            "And what did they want?"

            "They were calling about that job interview."

            "Today?" Willis became intrigued

            "Yeah, guess they don't have anything better to do on Christmas, you know what those computer nerds are like. Every day's the same." He laughed slightly at his own joke. 

            "Did they leave a number?" Willis asked, ignoring Takeru's attempted joke. His sense of humour was completely different from Takeru's, though some would argue Willis had no sense of humour. That could also be true.

            "Yeah, it's on the phone book, some guy called Izumi… Izumi Koushiro I think." Takeru waved his hand in the general direction of the kitchen bench. Willis didn't get up until he had finished his coffee. 

            Automatically he picked up the phone and dialled the number messily scrawled on the phone book. Takeru must have forgotten how to write at some point between his heavy drinking and his discovery of the laptop because it was almost illegible. At length the phone was answered by a man with a strange voice, he sounded like he was confused between being happy and sad. 

            "Izumi residence," Willis didn't speak until he had properly formed what he wanted to say in his head

            "Hello, this is Willis. I am calling back about the job interview."

            "Oh great," The man sounded positively ecstatic, "How are you?"

            "Great,"

            "That's great, now I've read your add in the local newspaper, it says you've had experience in this field of work."

            "Yes."

            "Prodigious. As you may know we at Accelerin are helping the refurbishment program. We're involved in some government programs as well as personal and international ones. I'll have to get you to come down to the office soon and we can discuss this further." 

            "Okay,"

            "Great, well what do you say about Wednesday at about Four Thirty?" 

            "Okay."

            "Great, I'll see you then, Merry Christmas." 

            "Yeah," Willis hung up 

            "What'd they say?" Takeru called from at his lap top, he didn't try to hide the fact that he had attempted to listen in on the conversation

            "I have to go down to his office at Four thirty on Wednesday." Willis replied

            "Finally, when was the last time you had a job?" Takeru got up and stretched his arms out. He checked the clock on the wall, then his wrist watch, and then continued, "I'm bored, let's go out."

            He grabbed Willis a jacket and threw it to him, Willis accepted it without question.

            "Where are we going?" He asked slipping the jacket on

            "I don't know, we'll just wander the streets a bit and see what we find."

            "Okay." Willis followed Takeru out of the apartment. It didn't seem to occur to Takeru that it was Christmas and a Monday night. Willis wondered idly how long it would take him to realise the only things open at this time on a Christmas/Monday night were occult shops, Brothels and Seven Eleven. He shrugged to himself; there was really nothing else to do.

            As they walked the less than normally crowded streets Takeru seemed to become aware of the fact that everything seemed to be closed. Even his favourite bar/fish and chips store was closed. He shrugged it off by making general comments about menial things, only one of which Willis heard.

            "That Ruki Masano sure is hot; no wonder they got posters of her everywhere." He went on to explain a brief history of her, including how she ran away to join the Victoria Secrets models and immediately became a hit. Willis nodded distractedly. She was probably five years younger than both of them, that didn't seem to hinder Takeru's judgement one bit. 

            After about an hour of idle wandering Takeru found a small Café that was open. He shrugged and entered. They probably didn't serve much alcohol there but there was really no where else to go. It was completely empty except for one tall, scruffy haired man who was talking to what looked like the waitress. When they entered the waitress immediately stopped the conversation and greeted them.

            "Welcome to Goughs, that'll be a table for two?"

            Takeru nodded and winked at the waitress, who scoffed and turned her back to him. She led them to their table, as far away from where she was holding her conversation with the man as possible. She disappeared for a moment, then returned and slapped their menu's down on the table.

            "My name is Sora; I'll be your waitress for the night." She growled down at Takeru. Willis was surprised at her reaction to Takeru's compulsive flirting; most girls either politely ignored it or swooned over it. He shrugged it off and picked up the menu, everything there was either filled with sugar or meat.

            "Do you have any vegetarian dishes?" He asked as politely as he could, the scowl on Sora's face only deepened.

            "We have salad, that'll do?" 

            "Okay." She scribbled it down on her note pad then made to leave

            "Hold up gorgeous, I haven't ordered yet." Takeru said without looking up from his menu, "I'll have the steak, medium rare."

            Sora was glaring daggers at him while she wrote it down, she turned to leave but Takeru stopped her

            "Oh, and I'll have a beer with that, you can get my friend here a soda he doesn't drink."

            The muscles in her back bunched up and her hands shook slightly. She looked ready to turn around and hurl insults at him, but restrained herself. After a few moments she seemed to regain control of herself and left. 

            "She digs me." Takeru said leaning back in his chair, Willis diverted his eyes. 

            The man who had been talking to the waitress was watching them closely with fire in his great blue eyes. He, too, looked ready to walk up and punch Takeru in the face, Willis wouldn't have argued. In a few minuets the waitress returned to her position on the stool next to the man. Minuets after that their conversation reached a volume which he could hear very clearly what they were saying.

            "Hiro, I don't need this right now okay!" She yelled standing up and turning her back to him

            "Well what do you expect me to do then Sora, just sit by and watch? I can do that and you know it." The man argued, standing up from his seat also

            "I want you to stay out of it Hirokazu. I don't want you to come with me okay." She spun back around and both of their faces became hidden

            Their voices softened and the conversation was lost.

            "Damn, just when it was getting interesting." Takeru had, apparently, also been listening. 

            A few minuets later the man left and their food was brought to them. Willis only picked idly at his dish, he was certain the cook had put meat in there. Once Takeru had finished he glanced distastefully at Willis barely eaten food, then at Willis, then down at his food.

            "You know you're going to waste away one day. I don't know what's up with all that vegetarian crap, and not only that you hardly eat anything anyway. I don't know how you're even alive. That's probably why you never get any girls, you're skin and bones."

            The first image that came to his mind was that of the anorexic woman who worked at the occult shop. He had never seen her before that day; she probably didn't leave the shop often. She looked pale enough to pass for that excuse anyway. He was sure about one thing, even if he was skinny he certainly wasn't unhealthily so. He wasn't even quite sure why he didn't eat meat, he just woke up one day and decided he didn't like the taste of it; same with alcohol. He and Takeru were completely different in every way possible, which must be why they got on so well.

            Without speaking the waitress gave them their bill and left. 

            "Can you get that Willis," Takeru said, "I left my wallet in my other pants."

            Willis complied silently, knowing quite well Takeru had his wallet with him. When they left the waitress closed the door and pulled the shutters down. Checking his wrist watch Willis hadn't noticed just how late it was. On their way back to the apartment Takeru once again gave a running commentary on whatever perked his interest. Willis listened in a half dazed fascination. 

            As they passed the occult shop, which at this time of night had finally closed, he noticed the girl was back. She stood there, her back against the door staring up at the cloud congealed sky. Again her eyes were searching, her face a mask of concentration and thought. Takeru noticed her as well.

            "It's you." He walked up to her; she didn't remove her eyes from the sky, "My name is Takeru, I wrote a poem about you."

            Still she didn't remove her eyes from the sky.

            "Takeru," Willis said, grabbing his arm, "I think you better leave her alone." 

            "What are you talking about?" He replied forcefully, "She's not doing anything else." 

            Willis would have said more to stop him, but Takeru seemed to get some response out of the girl. She brought her eyes down from the sky and let them rest on Willis' immediately a blush spread across her cheeks, if the light hadn't been so sparse she probably would have broken eye contact, he would have broken eye contact. 

            Takeru continued to speak as if the girl were wrapped in his story. Between her and Willis another conversation took place. If, perhaps, he hadn't been so tired he wouldn't have understood that look in her eyes. As it so happened, however, he knew precisely what she had been thinking of, and exactly what she was feeling. She was bored of everything and wondered just how long it would take to climb to the top of the tallest building. 

            Brushing past Takeru she took his hand in both of hers and whispered

            "My name is Alice." 

            Before Willis had a chance to reply she turned and walked hastily away.

            "Oh I get it." Takeru said waving his arms animatedly, "You get all the good ones. Christ if becoming vegetarian gets you girls like that I'll have to rethink my position on the food chain."

            Willis ignored him and continued towards the apartment. 

            Time travels slowly when you're bored, in the time until Four Thirty Wednesday Willis read four books and watched several movies; even some of Takeru's choice, which were usually rated somewhere between R18+ and X. When Four Thirty Wednesday finally rolled around Willis was seriously considering leaving the country to relieve his boredom. 

             The Accelerin office was further from his apartment than he had anticipated. He arrived at exactly Four Thirty; he was greeted at the front desk by a perky young woman with long purple hair and glasses too big for her face.

            "You must be the new guy; my name is Yolie, nice to meet you." Willis took her hand and shook it politely 

            "Willis." Yolie smiled and tapped a button on the phone of her desk

            "Oi, Izzy, the new guy's here." She said into the phone, all the while smiling at Willis. He began to get more uncomfortable by the second. She looked as if she were ready to pounce and rip him from limb to limb at any second. He shuddered slightly at the concept. She didn't remove her eyes from him until Izumi Koushiro arrived.

            Ah, Willis, you're here, great." He took Willis' hand in both of his and shook it vigorously, "I guess we'll get started then."

            He led Willis out of the reception area, which he was greatly appreciative of, and into a back office. The office was spotless, which reminded him unexpectedly of the priest's office at the church. It seemed like so long ago he had talked to that man, not that he had gained much from it. He shook the thoughts out of his head and took a seat across the desk from Koushiro. 

            "Now," Koushiro started as soon as Willis had made himself comfortable, "I've got you're resume and information which you mailed to me the other day, and I'm supposed to ask you some questions about previous employers and the like but I think I'll skip that for now. There are, however, a few questions I'll have to ask you concerning our privacy policy. Because we are involved in some official government business and programs I'll have to get you to sign some stuff and you'll be given a lecture on what you say to whom about some things. I know it sounds very tedious and I can tell you aren't the type to start talking about those kinds of things but bear in mind its all procedure. For now however I'll just keep it simple. 

            Now, it says here you live with one other person, Takaishi Takeru, is that right?"

            "Yes,"

            "And what does Mr. Takaishi do for a living?"

            "He works down at the docks," 

            "Ah I see," Koushiro lapsed into silence for a moment, leafing through the stack of papers marked 'Willis', "And you have no immediate family living in this country?" 

            "No,"

            "I see," he stopped and stared at Willis, "Well then everything seems to be in order; why don't you come out the back and you can check out some of the things we do here." 

            Willis obediently followed Koushiro further into the one story building. They reached a relatively dark room in which several workers were pulling computers apart and putting them back together. Some were typing madly away at screens that moved faster than Willis could follow, and the girl at the reception desk stood behind one worker and was talking casually. 

            "This is where we work, as you can see we've progressed quite a bit since the incident. There are other organisations just like this one working tirelessly to restore the order to the world. In no time we'll be back on our feet, ready to continue from where we left off."

            Willis shuddered at the proposition. The world had been a horrible place before the incident; the people had been greedy, judgemental and careless. Things hadn't changed as drastically since then, but gradually the worst of that kind began to realise there was more to life than a credit card. The thought of returning to such a shallow, single minded world scared him.      

            Then again, he wouldn't mind it either. The world may be regaining some common morals but it was exceptionally boring. 

            "... Okay? So you'll have an interview with some government officials later this week and if all goes well you should be able to start here by next week." Willis nodded his head in response and Koushiro led him back to the reception area.

            "Well it's been nice meeting you; I'll be looking forward to you working for us." He shook Willis' hand again before retreating back farther into the building. There was a bowl of candy on the reception desk, Willis grabbed a handful and put them in his coat pocket before leaving. 

            On the way back to the apartment he was hoping to see Alice and, just as she was the other day, she sat outside the occult shop and stared into the window of the Café across the street. He was tempted to stop and talk to her but what would he say? He had never been a hit with the girls before, he never knew how to relate to them, never knew what to say. But that was the same with every other person he met, he had a terrible personality. 

            So, instead of stopping even to look at her, he continued walking. When her voice reached his ears his heart beat increased dramatically, pounding painfully in his chest and ears. He stopped, turned, and forced a smile to his lips. She frowned.

            Neither of them said anything for quite a while, just stood amongst the currant of people and stared into each other's eyes. Only moments after he started Willis couldn't keep the ridiculous smile on his face, so he let his features return to their usual place. Still, she didn't speak, but her frown lightened. 

            The wind suddenly picked up and his view of her was temporarily blocked by a clump of his curly blond hair being blown into his eyes. He brushed it out of the way and she was standing only inches away from him, her face so close to his he could see every pore on her nose. Slowly, she moved her face closer and kissed his cheek lightly. When she pulled away she was smiling slightly. 

            She turned and left Willis in a highly confused jumble of thoughts. Eventually he brought his hand up to touch the place on his cheek where she had kissed him. Blinking owlishly he turned and continued towards the apartment.

            Since that incident Willis didn't see Alice for a long tedious few days. He was lectured by a very large and fat government official about who he talked to about his job and which parts to keep secret. He was to start at Accelerin in the next week. It appeared that since the incident no one had time for holidays. That would serve as a problem. 

            Takeru's brother turned up at their apartment door on New Years Eve. He and Takeru left Willis alone in the apartment with a bottle of cheap wine and a paper back novel titled 'Rites of Spring.' After an hour of staring at the wall clock he grabbed his jacket and left. It was 9:00pm. 

            Absent-mindedly he wandered the streets, pondering. The New Year was supposed to be a time of remembrance, a time of recollecting the accomplishments you achieved during that year. In retrospection Willis had accomplished nothing, in all actuality he had been wasting resources by being alive. He was wasting his life. But he had known that from the start. 

            For him, life was a river, and he was caught in the currant. But instead of struggling against it, or giving up and drowning in the rapids as most people did; he, quietly and without fuss, drifted along with it. There were no significant events which stood out in his mind, no love or despair. It was all the same, every hour of every day. And again, he didn't mind all that much. He wasn't actively seeking adventure, friendship or sex. He was happy where he was, drifting without disturbance. The way he saw it, life was a preparation for death. 

            So he walked the city streets while crowded bars and café's sported masses of rowdy people as they rejoiced their life and welcomed the New Year. Though he had tried to avoid it, his feet led him to the occult shop which was, surprisingly enough, closed. And she was there, waiting for him, her eyes never once wandering from his form. When he approached she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him like a lover would. He stood impassively and let her. 

            When she was finished he took her back to the apartment and loved her long and hard through the night. 

**

The poem Plague of Thoughts is property of my lovely friend Joshua Moir. 


	2. Rebirth

Rebirth:

"Willis, you wanted to see me?" Koushiro looked pale in the flimsy light of his desk lamp. Willis didn't bother asking why there were no other lights on, he couldn't see well but that hardly troubled him. 

            He sat down across the desk from Koushiro; from this vantage point he could see dark shadows under the other man's eyes and a five o'clock shadow across his chin. He almost felt guilty for being here when he was in this state; almost, but not. Koushiro's eyes were half shut and streaked with veins. Willis looked at the desk while he talked

            "I want to go to Japan." He could have put some emotion in his question; that was what Takeru would have suggested. 

            For a while afterwards Koushiro stared at him, his eyes glazed and not seeing. At length he spoke

            "And what do you want to do in Japan?" 

            "I've heard of a branch of Accelerin over there, I would like to go work there." 

            "We all would, wouldn't we?" Koushiro replied sitting back in his chair. He looked like he had fallen asleep, but he spoke again, "Okay, you organise the papers and I'll give you permission." 

            Willis stood up, "Thank you," and left. 

             He had been working at Accelerin for at least three months now. It had cured his boredom somewhat, at first, but once he had fallen into the familiar routine of work, eating and sleeping everything became boring again. Walking past the occult shop after work a few weeks ago he decided going to Japan was the only solution. 

            Takeru hadn't thought it was such a bad idea, he decided to tag along. Willis didn't mind either way; Takeru seemed to be falling into his old slump again, seeing his family possibly could bring him out before he got himself too deep. So they had organised in approximately fifteen minuets to stay with his brother until they could find somewhere, and they'd stay in Japan as long as they could before their working visas ran out. 

            It sounded so nice and sugar coated. Sounded slightly like adventure, something new for Willis. And still there was a certain guilt attached to it. He knew, though he hated admitting it, precisely why he was leaving. Every morning and evening when he passed the occult shop, with its putrid incense and rich purple drapes only one image made it to his mind. Alice. 

            She had left after New Years; he hadn't seen or heard of her since. For a while afterwards he had thought cynically 'what a way to start the New Year.' His cynicism increased slowly as time went by. He had thought for a brief moment that he had found something worth keeping, something to remember for the rest of his life. But, as it turned out she had been like every other girl he had taken to bed. 

            He had tried tackling his problem head on; he stood outside the occult shop in the rain and remembered her eyes. But that had gained him nothing. He had tried talking to Takeru about, but before the conversation started the phone rang and he lost his nerve. So, the best and only solution left open to him was to forget it, bury it as deep within his memory as was allowed. He was a coward for running from his problems, but no one else had to know.

            When he reached the apartment Takeru's music was blaring and the door was locked. When he entered he wasn't surprised to find Takeru wasn't home, or at least not in view. He was, however, immensely surprised to find a young woman sitting at the kitchen table eating fried tofu out of a rice bowl. 

            She had shoulder length burgundy hair, skinny wrists and thick black make-up. She smiled at him when he entered; he stood and stared at her. She was one of the regulars of the occult shop, one of the very few who didn't hurl insults at passing crowds. Another thing which caught Willis' attention was a small love heart shaped pendant which sat around her neck. He wasn't an expert on the behaviour or dress Gothic's but he had a feeling not many wore love heart shaped pendants. They were more suited to crosses or pentacles or something of the like.

            She stood up; she was wearing one of Takeru's shirts, which fell midway down her calf, and extended a hand to Willis

            "Hi," She said in a soft, high voice, "My name is Juri, nice to meet you." 

            Willis blinked at her hand; then looked up to survey her eyes. Soft, brown doe eyes, she looked much to kind to be worshipping the devil. Takeru walked out of the hallway in his boxers and blinked at Willis

            "You're back early," He pointed out scratching the back of his head

            Willis placed his keys and wallet on the bench, Takeru moved in closer to Juri and slipped his arm around her waist. Her hand had been lowered at some point during Takeru's entry. 

            "Don't worry about Willis here; he's not exactly the hospitable type." 

            She forced smile and turned her attention away from Willis, he was glad. The room began to fill with silence and tension. 

            "So, did you ask about being transferred to Japan?" Takeru asked at length

            "Yes."

            "What'd they say?"

            "I have to organise the paperwork, but I have permission." Willis opened the fridge; Juri had eaten the last of his tofu. He closed it again and decided to make coffee instead of eating.

            "Great, so when can we leave?" 

            "What about your job?" Willis asked, picking up the coffee pot, it looked as if it hadn't been cleaned for a week. He put it back down with a scowl on his face and settled for water. 

            "Ah, I'm sure they won't miss me, I have a feeling that old O'Neil was going to fire me soon anyways." 

            Juri excused herself; Willis watched her retreating back until she turned into the bathroom. 

            "Do you sleep with everyone you meet?" He asked once he was sure she was out of earshot. 

            Takeru grinned, "It's the best part of life." 

            Willis sighed and took a sip of the water, it was warm and unfiltered. He was sorely tempted to spit it back out. 

            "So how long do you reckon it'll take you to do that paperwork? I'll call Yamato tonight and see what I can do about accommodation." 

            Willis sure hoped Yamato agreed to let them stay, the last time he had been here he had stayed for at least a month and that was with no prior notice. He had almost driven Willis insane, with help from Takeru. He didn't know how very alike they were, one of Takeru was enough, but two he couldn't handle. And the worst part was he didn't even attempt to speak English. He was obnoxious, lazy and rude all in a language Willis only half understood.

            "It shouldn't take that long,"

            "Great, I'll call him now." Takeru made towards the phone

            Willis watched him with a detached curiosity. He had obviously forgotten about the time difference. While it may have been Three pm in America, it was something like Four am in Japan. However, Willis remained silent; it wasn't like him to want to extract revenge on someone but Yamato was the rare exception.

            "Do you know the number for Japan?" Takeru asked but before Willis could reply he shrugged it off, "It doesn't matter, I'll call collect. He shouldn't mind." 

            Willis walked over to the couch and picked up the paper from the coffee table. He wasn't much interested in reading it though; he didn't care for the troubles of society especially the way the media portrayed it. He was more interested in the outcome of Takeru's conversation.

            "Hello? Yes, I'd like to make a collect call to Japan." Willis couldn't refrain from smiling, "Uh okay. Yeah, the number is 0559 86 0635." Takeru flashed Willis a smile, Willis smiled back. 

            The next few seconds passed in silence, Juri emerged from the bathroom dressed in a tight black dress which was even shorter than Takeru's shirt had been, and a pair of black gloves. She wore lace up boots that reached her knees and in addition to her heart shaped pendant there were several other, more gothic, necklaces and a choker with large metal spikes sticking out of it. She had reapplied her make-up; it didn't do her any justice. She smiled sweetly at Willis, he looked away.

            When Takeru began to speak again it was in Japanese. Willis could only decipher bits of it, but from what he could gather it wasn't Yamato who answered the phone. He had also been correct about the time difference; whoever it was Takeru was talking too had, obviously, been asleep. 

            The rest of the conversation was lost when Juri sat down next to him and began to talk

            "Why do you hate me?" 

            "What?" Was Willis' immediate reply

            "Why do you hate me, I never did anything to you." Her eyes were serious, she looked like she was about to cry. He didn't like this interrogation one bit

            Willis blinked owlishly at her proposition. From across the room he heard Takeru apologising half heartedly to who he assumed was his brother. He didn't get a chance to hear the rest of the conversation due to Juri who insistently perused the one sided discussion.           

            "Is it because of that tofu? Because if it is I'm really sorry, Takeru told me that you wouldn't mind if I ate the rest of it. He told me you weren't vegetarian anymore."

            "He said that?" Willis asked, perplexed. Why would Takeru so obviously lie about something like that? If he had a chance to look into his mind and discover just what compelled him to do such pointless things he would have to decline. Truthfully, he would be too scared; Takeru was a very strange person.

            "Can't we just be friends?" Juri asked, standing up and offering her hand. Willis blinked up at her, he didn't know what she was getting so apprehensive about; once Takeru was finished with her they'd probably never see one another again. To keep her quiet he stood up and took her hand, forcing his face into the most painful smile he had ever experienced. She seemed satisfied with his progress, she sat down on the couch again and they both, thankfully, fell into silence.

            "Come on Yamato," Willis returned to deciphering Takeru's conversation with his brother, "How long did you stay here for? Plus it won't even be for that long, we just need a place to stay for a while until we find another place… That's better, trust me you won't regret it. Oh, and tell Daisuke I'm sorry for getting him out of bed so early… okay, bye, bye." He hung up, a smile on his face.

            "We're in baby." He danced over to the couch, grabbed Juri up by the hands and spun her around, "We're out of this dump."

            'And into another,' Willis couldn't help but think. How long would it take Takeru to get bored of Japan? How long would it take him to get bored of Japan? He shook his head; he was being so pessimistic, it would be good for a change, something new. That was what he needed. At least, that was what he told himself he needed.  

            "All we need now is for you to get those transfer papers in order and we're off." He said to Willis, still grinning like a maniac. Willis nodded, "I feel like celebrating, let's go out." 

            He grabbed Juri by the wrist and began dragging her to the door

            "But what about Willis?" She stopped Takeru and they both looked towards him, he shrugged

            "I'll be okay." Takeru shrugged and opened the door, ushering Juri out. The whole time she didn't take her eyes off him. He disliked her eyes they were filled with pity, she pitied his loneliness. He had never had that before, at least not openly. He frowned at it, he frowned at her. She confused him.

            It didn't take him long to organise the transfer papers. Once Koushiro had signed everything he and Takeru gathered everything they could sell and sold them. They renewed their passports, got their working visa's together, sent anything that was too big to carry on the plane but was absolutely necessary by air mail to Yamato's apartment and bid farewell to the apartment that had served them so well.  

            The flight to Japan was excruciatingly long and slow. Takeru slept through the whole thing; Willis tried, and failed. By the time they had arrived in Japan he hadn't slept for seventeen hours and they had lost a day. He was drained and suffering from severe jet-lag. Takeru didn't seem to notice; but then, Willis wasn't sure Takeru knew or cared for keeping track of the days of the week.

            They were greeted at Tokyo Narita airport by Yamato who drove them for at least an hour back to his apartment. Willis had heard storied about the size of Japanese apartments, especially in Odaiba, which was where Yamato lived; but seeing it in person was even more astounding than any explanation. He was more surprised that two people lived there; he didn't know how they would all fit. 

            "You'll have to excuse the mess," Yamato apologised when they entered. From what Willis could tell the apartment was completely spotless; that was, of course, comparing it to the one back in America, "I didn't have time to clean it this morning and I can never trust Daisuke to clean up after himself. I swear he's just like a child."

            Willis was still slightly confused as to who Daisuke was, when he had asked Takeru he had avoided the question. His queries were soon answered, however, when a tall man with wild hair and dark skin emerged from one of the back rooms and greeted Yamato with a kiss on the cheek. 

            "Willis," Takeru said, averting his eyes from the two, "I don't believe you've met Daisuke." 

            Daisuke grinned broadly at Takeru and, in less than an instant had Takeru in a hug. Takeru look as out of place as a monkey in a swimming pool, and just as uncomfortable; once Daisuke had finished with him, however, he turned to Willis. Willis blinked rapidly and took a step away from him. Daisuke only laughed and approached Willis with his hand extended.

            "Halo, my naimu isu Daisuke, naisu tuu meeto you." He grinned at Willis, and Willis politely accepted his hand.

            "Whato isu your naimu?" 

            "Willis."

            "Well," Takeru interrupted, "Glad we got that out of the way." He moved in between Daisuke and Willis, as softly as he could; apologising for not telling him about their situation sooner. Willis shrugged it off. 

            "Well you two must be tired," Daisuke continued, unperturbed, in Japanese, "Let's see what we can do about bedding."

            There were two bedrooms in the apartment, one kitchen/dining room, one bathroom/laundry and a very cramped living room which was partly shared with the dining room. He and Takeru shared the spare room. Willis assumed Daisuke and Yamato shared the same bed, or at least the same room. Thankfully, he and Takeru were given separate futon's. 

            In the next three days Willis slept approximately forty-two hours. By the time Monday rolled around he still hadn't recovered from his jet-lag. Daisuke was kind enough to show him to his office which required two train rides and walking for three blocks. Before they had left in the morning Yamato had filled him in as to why Daisuke wasn't working; he didn't have a job. 

            "Not a real job anyway," Yamato had explained, "He has this strange dream of owning his own branch of noodle carts. I think he's loony, I mean it was cute at first but it's gotten out of hand. He does own his own noodle cart but that earns about as much money as busking or begging. I've tried talking to him about it but he refuses to listen." He had sighed and made it sound very dramatic; Willis had listened politely, only half understanding what he was saying.

            When they had made it to his office Daisuke conferred with the woman at reception, occasionally pointing towards Willis. The woman disappeared for a moment and reappeared with a short bespectacled man. 

            "Ah, you must be Willis." The man said, walking up to him and shaking his hand, "My name is Kenta, I'm head of international operations. It's nice to finally meet you."

            Daisuke gave Willis a thumbs up before turning and leaving. Kenta ignored him and continued talking

            "Koushiro faxed me your papers so everything is already in order. If you just want to follow me I'll introduce you to some of your co-workers and you can get settled." He smiled warmly up at Willis and proceeded to lead him to an elevator. He pressed the button for the Twenty Sixth floor and the doors closed. On the way up he asked Willis idle questions about how long he had been in Japan and how well he knew the language. His answer was the same for bother questions.

            When they reached the Twenty Sixth floor, Kenta led him towards a small cubicle in which he would work. It was certainly different from how he had worked in America; back there everyone had been in the same room, some people were fixing computers and others were programming. Now that he thought about it, it hadn't been very well organised, but it had worked.

            Here however there were six cubicles, all facing inwards toward each other and, at the moment, five workers tapped furiously on their keyboards. Willis didn't mind the cramped atmosphere much and it appeared that the workers didn't either. 

            When he and Kenta entered the room only one worker looked up, a blue haired man who reminded Willis furiously of the man who had introduced himself as Ichijouji Ken outside the church; he greeted Kenta politely and nodded at Willis. 

            "You will work closely with these people during your time here. Shall I introduce them?" Kenta smiled broadly at Willis who nodded impassively. He continued, gesturing to each person as he introduced them, the first being a black hair woman with thick red lipstick and large green eyes, "This is Sandra Kingsmith, she is also from America, you two should get along well." Sandra nodded at him and returned to her work. 

They moved on to a young Asian boy with bright green, obviously dyed hair, "This is Hara, Koichi," Koichi smiled and nodded, noticing how Willis' eyes travelled to his hair. Next was another man who didn't stand out at all in Willis' mind, "Norio, Akira, and Sawano, Yuki," Neither did she. "And last but not least Jenrya Lee."    

            Jenrya stood up from his computer, walked around the cubicle and greeted Willis with a hand shake

            "Nice to meet you," He greeted Willis in Japanese, the first since he had gotten here. 

            "Well, now that we have that out of the way I'll show you the other department in which you might be required to work." Kenta led him towards the elevator again and pushed the button for the Twenty Seventh floor. 

The Twenty Seventh floor was more like his 'office' in America than the previous floor. It was a large room surrounded by several work tables on which computers sat in pieces and people worked feverishly. Willis noticed that nobody seemed to be standing around talking idly instead of doing work, which was the only real difference from America. 

They were greeted almost immediately by a perky young woman with long pinkish-brown hair and the most vivid red eyes Willis had ever seen. She smiled broadly at Willis and Kenta introduced her with a smile

"This is my wife Suichon; she's the head of this department."

"Very nice to meet you, what did you say your name was again?" Her English wasn't quite as flawless as Kenta's but she had obviously had a lot of practise

"Willis,"

"Ah, yes, Willis," She flashed him another smile, "I think it's pretty obvious what we do here and I've heard you've had quite a bit of experience in his field. We're always looking for experienced workers, glad you're a part of it." 

After a brief conversation between Kenta and Suichon took place in Japanese before Kenta led him back towards the elevator and continued with his detailed tour of everywhere Willis could possibly go while working in that particular building. Willis was compelled stopped listening after a while, he hardly had enough energy left to walk let alone listen to Kenta's incessant babble. When they returned to the lobby and Kenta bid him farewell Willis could have shouted for joy. Hopefully by the next week when he actually started work he would be over his jetlag.    

Daisuke was already back, if he had even left, when Willis returned to the apartment. He was in the kitchen making what looked to be rice balls. He appeared to be the only one there.

"Home so soon?" Willis eyed the bag of jelly beans in his hand, "I'm making rice balls. It's my own secret recipe." He grabbed the tray of rice balls which was sitting on the bench and offered one to Willis, "They're really good. It's sweet, sugar coated rice and there are jelly beans in the middle." 

Willis eyed the sugary snacks for a moment before declining. He didn't know if he could stomach something with that much sugar in it. Daisuke shrugged, peered at him for a moment before commenting

"You look like crap; do you want to take a bath?"

Willis nodded and Daisuke got him a towel.

"You'll probably want to drain the water that's already in there, I don't know how long it's been there but it can't be warm anymore."

Willis nodded and set to draining the water. The job required more effort than it should have and by the time he was soaking in the bath he was tired enough to fall asleep. He wasn't sure exactly how long he slept for, but by the time he awoke both his palms were white and wrinkly and the light had faded enough to make the bathroom dark. He could hear Takeru talking loudly in Japanese; he was too tired to decipher it.

When he exited the bathroom Takeru burst out laughing and stood up from his place on the couch. He smelt strongly of some sort of alcohol and his cheeks were slightly flushed. He was drunk, and by the sounds of it so were Daisuke and Yamato.

"So there you are; how long were you in there?" He grabbed Willis' wrist, "Let's see your hands." As soon as he beheld Willis' wrinkly hands he burst out laughing again, "did you fall asleep in there or something?"

Willis wrenched his wrist out of Takeru's grasp and retreated to his room. He got changed into a light shirt and some boxers and immediately fell asleep.

As it so turned out Takeru had gotten a job teaching English at the local school at which Yamato taught music; Takeru also seemed to overcome his brother's sexuality in a number of days. As a result he, Yamato and Daisuke were having so much fun together that their search for a separate apartment was postponed. Willis didn't mind as much as he thought he would, being with the three rowdy men was certainly a different atmosphere from the one he was used to. That was the whole reason he had gone to Japan in the first place.  

In the following months Willis' Japanese improved drastically. He was able to understand most of his co-workers general conversation and could answer any question asked of him with general ease. By early September he could properly hold a fluent conversation, not that it was put into much practise. The only problem with his progress with the language was life was becoming a lot more routine and boring. 

Daisuke had, for the moment, given up his dream of owning a chain of noodle carts and gotten himself a job as a cook at a ramen restaurant instead. There were only a few incidents which stood out profusely in Willis' memory, one in particular of a club Yamato frequented which Takeru had dragged him to one night.

At first he had been apprehensive about exactly what kind of place Yamato would frequent but he was quite pleasantly surprised to find it wasn't the kind of night club he had envisioned; loud music and women of all sizes in clothes too tight to be legal. It was, instead, an underground alternate music bar/restaurant. There were a lot of people there dressed in black, but nothing like the people that had hung around the occult shop near his old apartment. And the music had been good.

Another pleasant surprise Willis noticed was a familiar ghost from his past.

"…Introducing the string quartet, featuring, Tachikawa Mimi Soun Kai, Ryoshi Usagi and Ichijouji Ken." Willis' ears had perked up at the mention of the name he still remembered after all this time. 

            "Oh Mimi is quite the musician, very talented." Yamato commented as the four musicians took the stage. Indeed it was the Ichijouji Ken he had remembered. The same pale skin, the same indigo hair. His eyes scanned the crowd, and landed on Willis. He smiled slightly and proceeded tuning his instrument

            "And you would not believe what Ichijouji can do with a violin, he plays like a god."

            "The feature piece this evening, Johan Pachelbel's Kanon in D Major." 

Yamato hadn't lied about the music, or Ichijouji Ken. Willis was wrapped, and Ichijouji Ken didn't remove his eyes from him once during the piece. 

Once the quartet had finished and exited the stage, however, Takeru ordered they leave; then proceeded to mutter about how distasteful the music was. Daisuke didn't seem to appreciate it much either, but remained blissfully silent. 

While they were leaving Willis saw Ken emerge from the backstage door and scan the crowd, when he noticed them leaving he retreated backstage again. That was the last time he ever saw Ichijouji Ken.

In the next few weeks after that Willis found them a separate apartment not far from Yamato's and not far from the local school. Takeru seemed relatively happy and they moved in without much fuss. The move, however, inspired unwanted memories of America for Willis. Life was becoming more and more like it had been back then, boring and meaningless. He was loosing inspiration for getting out of bed in the morning, the adventure was wearing off. Before he knew it he had returned to drifting aimlessly along with the currant of life. 

It was the Twenty Third of November and Takeru had gone over to Yamato and Daisuke's apartment to watch a Kendo match on TV. Willis wasn't sure when Takeru had become interested in Kendo, 'It was the title match between Hida Iori and Akiyama Ryo, possibly a once in a lifetime event,' he had explained. Willis thought it sounded a lot like wrestling with weapons. Of course Takeru had made it sound a lot more interesting than it actually was. He had left Willis alone in the apartment with only comic books and Japanese novels as entertainment. 

He had just grabbed his jacket and was ready to leave when a knock sounded on the door. Willis set his jacket down and answered it. It was an unfamiliar man with short cropped brown hair and fire in his eyes. Willis was about to explain to the man that Takeru wasn't in, when he was cut off.

"Listen Takaishi, I've just about had it up to here with you're crap. If I hear you've been harassing my sister one more time I'll personally see into it that you are killed very slowly and _very painfully. Christ when Yamato told me you were slightly obnoxious and arrogant I never expected this to happen. Hikari is afraid to go to work because of you, I hope you're happy. Well, what do you have to say for yourself?"_

"My name is Willis; Takeru is out at the moment." 

It took a moment for the information to sink into the man's head; he blinked owlishly a few times before a thick blush spread across his cheeks. He took a step back and covered his hand with his mouth

"You're not Takaishi?" He asked, Willis shook his head; he bowed his, "Oh, I'm very sorry. Please forgive me, I mistook you for Takeru. It's just, he's been harassing my sister at her work and I thought I'd come and have a word to him about it. I never meant for this to happen…" He trailed off and glanced up at Willis who watched impassively as the scene unfolded, "My name is Yagami, Taichi; I'm a friend of Takeru's brother Yamato." Willis nodded, retreated inside to retrieve his jacket then left. Taichi followed him to the lift

"I hope I'm not being rude but you wouldn't mind telling me where Takeru is would you?" He asked while they were riding in the life

"He's at Yamato's; he probably won't be back until tomorrow." Taichi smiled at him and, when the lift reached the lobby, bid him farewell. Willis walked in the opposite direction from Taichi. 

He didn't feel much like picking his way through busy crowds or staring at glaring neon lights; instead he took to walking the back streets which on the odd occasion a car would pass, but were relatively quiet. The thrill had officially worn off his coming to Japan; it hadn't taken as long as he had hoped. Maybe he should try another country. He shook the thought out of his head; he might as well stay until his working visa ran out. 

At times like this Willis was usually prone to let his mind wander, however, he had been so absorbed in his thoughts he didn't see the woman approach him until he almost ran into her. 

"Excuse me," She said, he glanced up from the road. He couldn't see her very well in the sparse light of a street lamp a few meters away, but from what he could see she looked vaguely familiar, "I'm really sorry about this but my car has a flat tyre and I know next to nothing about cars. Do you think you could help me?"

Willis blinked owlishly at her. He had never owned a car in his life, he didn't even have a driver's license; she probably knew more about cars than he did. 

When he answered, "Okay," He wasn't quite sure what compelled him to

She led him towards her car which was closer to the street lamp than they had previously been. He could see her almost perfectly now; long strawberry blond hair, soft auburn eyes and clear, pale skin. She was that woman who had played the second violin in the string quartet with Ichijouji Ken. 

"You're that guy from the club," She started once they were next to her car, "The one Ken knew. You were with Yamato weren't you?" Willis nodded and she replied with a smile as she extended her hand, "Tachikawa Mimi, pleased to meet you." 

Willis accepted her hand and gave his mandatory reply

"Willis."

 "Great, shall we get started?" Mimi opened the boot of her car and managed to extract a spare tyre and a tool kit. Once she had finished she slapped her hands against her thighs and gestured towards Willis. Willis surveyed the tyre and tools then glanced over at Mimi. 

Trying to remember every movie which had ever featured a car getting it's tyre changed he said to Mimi;

"We'll need to…" He gestured with his hands, not knowing exactly which words to use

"Jack the car up?" Mimi finished for him at length, he nodded. She knelt down on the ground next to the tool kit and removed a car jack, which she immediately handed to Willis. He blinked at it owlishly for a moment. Mimi stared at him, her eyes bore into his face; he felt himself blush.

"You don't know anything about changing tyres do you?" She asked at length

"I don't even own a car," He replied, she sighed.

"Give me that," He handed her the jack and she set it up beneath the car, "if I jack it up could you at least try figure out how to take the tyre off?" 

Willis nodded tentatively and fetched the tool kit off the ground. The tyre looked like it was bolted on to the wheel nice and tight, there had to be a tool in there that took it off. He sorted through the tools, settling on one which looked like it should fit the bolts. When the car was far enough off the ground he knelt down next to the tyre and proceeded to remove the bolts.

It didn't take him long to figure out what he had been removing was the hub cap, beneath that there were more screws that needed to be undone. He dutifully removed them while Mimi stood behind him and watched. By the time he had finished his palms were raw and red. Mimi handed him the new tyre which he replaced the old one with, when it was on place she handed him one of the screws. He sighed and got to work screwing them back in. 

Once everything was in order Mimi packed up the tools and placed them and the old tyre into the boot of her car. Before she left she pulled a pen out of her purse and grabbed his hand

"Here's my number, call me sometime and we'll get together and have some cake or something, my treat." She smiled at him, he blinked at her. He had never been asked out for cake before. She continued, "Or if you want steak or something, I don't know what you Americans like."

"I'm vegetarian," He replied simply her smile broadened

"Right then, cake it is. Thank you again you've been a great help. If you want I can give you a lift to wherever it is you're going."

"No thanks," He wasn't going anywhere that wasn't accessible by foot. 

"Alright then, suit yourself. Bye." She climbed into her car and he watched her drive off. 

Well he could now officially tick changing car tyres off his list of things to accomplish in life. He shook his head and began walking back to the apartment. 

_"In more recent news the deep space probe, designed by Ichijouji Osamu, will be launched in the next few days. The deep space probe is the first of a series of probes that will be sent into the galaxy as part of Japans first deep space program, established and funded by Ichijouji Osamu…"_

_ Willis frowned at the volume of the television. There was a nine out of ten chance that either it wasn't being watched or no one was home. In response he pulled the blankets over his head to drown it out, it didn't work._

_"… And it appears Christmas fever has hit __Japan__ again, walking down the streets of __Tokyo__…"_

Willis groaned and threw the covers off himself. There was no chance the television would be turned down or off anytime soon and there was even less chance of him going back to sleep. He checked his bedside clock, 7:30am, and groaned again. 

He didn't have to go to work today, or the next day, or the next two weeks for that matter. They gave him leave on account of the fact that he was Christian and deserved to celebrate this occasion properly. He didn't argue, it gave him a chance to sleep in, or at least he had thought. Takeru was also off work because of school holidays, which was also the reason the television was up so loud, or on at all. 

Willis lay staring at the ceiling for a moment listening for any sign that Takeru was home, there was none. Willis sat up, shook his head and proceeded to make his way towards the kitchen. 

Takeru indeed wasn't home, but Willis wasn't alone. There was a woman sitting at the kitchen table eating sugar coated cereal out of his rice bowl. He frowned at her, she blinked owlishly at him. As a reaction he flipped the television off and then got himself a drink of water.

He was glad the woman didn't introduce herself; he didn't need to know anything about her apart from the fact that she was in his apartment and Takeru wasn't. Completely ignoring her he turned towards the bathroom where he proceeded to take a shower. Once he had finished Takeru was back from wherever he had been and the woman was gone. 

"Morning sunshine," Takeru said over a can of soda, he was dressed as if he were going to work, Willis grunted in reply, "Oh somebody got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning didn't they,"

"I wouldn't have gotten up at all this morning if that woman hadn't had the TV up so loud." Takeru only smiled.

"I'm going over to Yamato's and then we're going to watch some baseball. I don't suppose you'd want to join us." Willis shook his head, "didn't think so. Well you have fun." He left. 

Wills made a cup of coffee before leaving himself. 

 The news reporter hadn't lied about Christmas fever; everywhere Willis looked there were fat glowing Santa's with rosy cheeks grinning at him or packs of reindeers suspended over his head. He tried his best to ignore them, tried to forget the fact that it was the day before Christmas and exactly as mind numbingly boring as it had been last year. Everything was closed and he was wandering the streets idly trying to find meaning to his loneliness. 

He eventually found himself outside the club Yamato had taken him to. It was open, which was good enough for Willis; without another thought, he entered. It was just as he had remembered, small, cramped and dark but the music was good. When he sat down a familiar woman took the stage with a man on the piano and began to sing. Yamato hadn't lied about Tachikawa Mimi's talent, she sung like a goddess. When she finished she winked and smiled down at Willis. 

As soon as the next piece had started Mimi was sitting across the table from him smiling politely

"You never called." She pointed out, 

"I lost your number," Willis replied immediately, she nodded knowingly

"Oh I see, but I still owe you that cake." She stood up and beckoned him to follow her. He compiled silently

Once they had exited the club she took him by the hand and begun leading him down the street, talking idly as she did so.

"I know this great little place that serves the best cake called 'Takato's'. The owner, Takato is a friend of mine; he always gives me discounts because he knows just how much I love cake." 

It didn't take them long to reach the cake store. It was a small shop/house huddled between several other, larger, houses in one of the back roads. There were several signs outside, some in Japanese and others in French. Mimi ignored the 'Entrance' sign and knocked on front door of the house. There was a call from within and at length the door was answered by a short, black haired woman.

"Mimi," She said with a smile, they hugged one another, "so good to see you again. Come in, come in." She began to usher Mimi inside when she noticed Willis, "Who's this, a new boyfriend? What happened to Jyou?"

"Oh no he's not my boyfriend," Mimi replied hastily, "But Jyou… I'll leave that till later." The woman nodded solemnly and proceeded to lead the two around towards the entrance of the shop. 

Once they were inside Mimi ordered them both coffee and asked him to pick which ever cakes he wanted. When he tried to argue that he didn't like cake she ordered for him. When their orders had been taken and the woman gone Mimi started idle conversation and Willis was compelled to pursue it. He didn't feel as threatened by Mimi as he did by most women.

"So how long have you been in Japan?" 

"About eight months."

"You know the language quite well."

"Yeah, I've had a lot of practice."

"Do you live by yourself?"

"No, I live with a friend of mine. Yamato's brother Takeru."

"Oh…" Mimi trailed off, her face turning serious, "I don't like him very much."

Willis nodded in understanding; Takeru got that reaction from a lot of women.

"So do you play an instrument?" She continued the conversation 

"No, I used to play the saxophone when I was in high school, but I was bad at it so I stopped."

"You probably just didn't like it. I believe that it is impossible to just be bad at something, you either have no passion for it or you dislike it because those are the things that make a good musician." Mimi nodded at him and he shrugged

"I only played it because I was told to."

"Well there you go." She looked like she wanted to continue but at that moment their cake was brought out by the black haired woman. She smiled at them and apologized for her husband not coming out to see her. Mimi shrugged it off and the woman left

"Dig in, it's good." Mimi picked up her fork and began eating, Willis only picked at his. He didn't care much for sugar and he hadn't had anything proper to eat yet; he was going to make himself sick if he ate it. When she was finished Mimi eyed his food but kept quiet.

After a few moments silence she picked up the casual conversation again. Willis told her more about himself than he had told anyone. When they left she demanded he give her his number so she could call him, which he complied to happily. He didn't know what it was about her that made him open up, but something did the trick. He had a feeling she could be that certain epoch he had been looking for. 

In the next week she called him three times; one being the longest phone conversation he had held with another person. She invited him over to her place to celebrate the New Year; Takeru didn't like the idea, argued that he should spend his time with people he knew but Willis had never listened to Takeru. 

He had expected there to be masses of people and loud music and other things associated with the New Year. He was quite pleasantly surprised to find only Mimi and a bottle of expensive wine waiting for him. He didn't drink the wine but he sat with Mimi and listened to her talk, his mind blissfully blank of memories. Noting haunted him anymore, his loneliness, his parents, Alice; they were all ghosts that had been put to rest.

When the clock struck twelve he knew that something changed inside of him; he was no longer a child of his loneliness, a slave to his memories. And for the first time in as long as he could remember his life held some semblance of meaning.

**

AN: I hope I didn't drag this out too long.

Disclaimer: I don't own digimon and I'm not getting any money out of this. 


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